


We Could've Had It All (The Writing On The Wall That Night)

by churchenbells



Category: Zeroes Series - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: F/F, It's sad I guess?, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 14:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17469518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/churchenbells/pseuds/churchenbells
Summary: That night, Verity leaves.





	We Could've Had It All (The Writing On The Wall That Night)

**Author's Note:**

> Just another quick and dirty unedited thing because I'm so uninspired.

"Wait!"

A midnight chase through an empty street. In any other scenario, Piper would be having fun. 

The other girl looked back, and her eyes were wrong. Like a desert, not because they were dry, but because looking into them suddenly made Piper's tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. They were thirsty, wild eyes, taking in everything they could see and demanding  _more more more_.

Eyes having a last look.

She stopped. "So you know." So toneless. Like this was a conversation about the weather, not abandonment and betrayal and being too blind to see a beautiful future.

Piper laughed, but it sounded more like a sob. "You really thought I wouldn't notice you stealing away in the middle of the night?" The other girl was still impassive, and Piper's weak grin slid off in response. "I know there are Feds here. Rien woke me," she admitted. Still nothing. Piper hadn't felt this foolish since third grade, before she'd learned what it took to be a Charismatic. But then, Liz had always made her feel this way. Always peeled away the layers of counterfeit confidence. Then it slipped out, the question that had branded itself into her eyelids three hours ago.

"Why're you doing this, Liz?" Piper pleaded.

If Piper hadn't known her so well, she would've missed the girl shudder. "It's Verity, okay?" she snapped.

Verity. They used code names in the FBI now? "Hey, more power to you," Piper weakly joked, "but don't tell Oliver you stole his hippie name." Not even a smile. How did making her laugh suddenly become so difficult?

Liz-Verity sighed. "Pipes, can you just tell me the truth?" As if she'd ever had to request it. Putting her birth year aside, that look in her eyes could force the meaning of life out of a vagrant, if only she'd ask. Piper never had a chance, and she didn't want one.

Piper walked closer, and Verity didn't turn away. "I asked first."

"You know why I'm leaving," Verity retorted, but her accusation was softened as she turned away. She was ashamed?

Of course. "Clarity." Oliver's power was fun to play with, but making life choices based on it? Idiotic. Half of the stuff he showed Piper was so obviously affected by his own opinions.

"Clarity," Verity repeated. "You can't seriously think I'd support you on this! You're insane!" The sole flickering streetlight illuminated Verity from behind, turning her into something straight out of Oliver's movies, those apocalypses populated by ravenous teenagers.

Piper desperately clasped Verity's hand in hers, for the first time wishing she had a different gift. "I'm telling you the truth now. I'm doing this for you. For us. It's going to be beautiful, Verity. It could be beautiful with you," she entreated.

If only she could show Verity what  _she_ saw, a world where there would be truth, justice, and something worth having. A world where they could live unfettered by the fat men getting fatter, endlessly grazing on an abundance of disadvantaged and disillusioned youth. A world where the year 2000 would finally put its plan for humanity into motion.

"I don't want that," Verity whispered. She pulled away, tears stealthily pooling in the corners of her eyes. The desert found an oasis. "I'm leaving now. Don't follow me. I—"

"Please."

"I'm leaving, Piper!" But she waited. She must have known, somehow, the true face of she was giving up. Then she hugged Piper and pressed a kiss—a last kiss—to her lips. "Just stay safe."

And then Piper was alone. 


End file.
